2008-08-29
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[revised] 2008-10-20 Finally, ADN had background on Todd Palin’s family, Yup’ik ties give Palins unique Alaska connection NATIVE: Grandmother on Todd’s side calls the governor a ‘special gal.’ By TOM KIZZIA tkizzia@adn.com Published: October 19th, 2008 11:20 PM. Anthropologically or historically, this background information is important because it reflects a lot of Alaskan history and because Todd’s wife is running for Vice-President. Unfortunately, a lot of Sarah Palin’s supporters and Palin herself have used Todd’s grandmother as a qualification for political office. The argument Palin has used is that she automatically has the best interests of Alaska Native/American Indian, rural Alaska, and tribal issues because of her husband’s family. Grandmothers are important in the 2008 election, whether Sen. Obama’s or Gov. Palin’s in-laws. But actions rather than inheritance are clearer guides to integrity, in my opinion. Assuming that inheritance determines behavior is called “biological determinism” and is well demonstrated as false as any other racist assumption.

[additions]
After last Friday, there is no point in trying to correct what others in the country say about our native people in the Yukon Kuskokwim Nushagak region. Occasionally in the past I did try to inform news writers about how to improve their stories (professional journalists really ought to know how to look up answers). Even in Alaska, most people don’t know rural Alaska (because most people live in Anchorage).

I don’t know Todd Palin or his family. I read he was born in Dillingham along the Nushagak River of Bristol Bay; one of his great(?)grandparents is of Yup’ik heritage. [Todd’s grandmother grew up in a traditional Yup’ik Eskimo house in Bristol Bay and accompanied Sarah in her race for governor as she sought support from … http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/08/29/CAMPAIGN_PALIN_odds.html]
As a child, he moved to Wasilla, where he met Sarah first during high school.

I just ran across this news story about the Yup’ik people in Eek, along the Kuskokwim River of Kuskokwim Bay. It is well written and gives a valid characterization of how Eskimo and Gussack (non-Eskimo, from the Russian), that is, Alaska Native and non-Alaska Native people, live in remote Alaska today.

2008sep01 I have a listing of various teacher blogs from those teaching and learning in the rural Alaska, Tundra Teachers- http://cerebraloddjobs.edublogs.org/2007/11/10/tundra-teachers/ Some post more regularly than others. Most bloggers are new to teaching and Alaska, but the ones written by long-time Alaskans and Alaska Native teachers are particularly interesting.

“Science in the News” is produced daily by Sigma Xi as a service for its members and the public. It highlights science and technology news stories appearing in the mainstream media. The accompanying Web links provide access to the full text of the articles on the Web sites of the individual media outlets from which they are taken. For more about the service, visit American Scientist Online.

If you experience any problems with the URLs (page not found, page expired, etc.), we suggest you proceed to the Science in the News section of American Scientist Online, which mirrors the daily e-mail update.

The distinct possibility that the North Pole could be free of sea ice — for the first time in recorded history — may become a cold reality this summer.

The Arctic’s thick, resilient multiyear sea ice (frozen sea surface), which usually accumulates and lasts through the annual melting season, has started to give way to thinner, vulnerable first-year ice.

Satellite data gathered by the … National Snow and Ice Data Center showed that young sea ice, which is no more than about 60 inches deep and much more susceptible to melting away, now makes up only 72 percent of the Arctic ice sheet. Using that estimate, scientists at the center see a 50 percent chance that ice at the highest point in the Arctic will melt by the summer’s end.http://snipurl.com/2qgra
see previous Where is… Bethel ice pack

Off Gore Point, where tide rips collide, the rolling swells rear up and steepen into whitecaps. Quiet with concentration, Chris Pallister decelerates from 15 knots to 8, strains to peer through a windshield blurry with spray, tightens his grip on the wheel and, like a skier negotiating moguls, coaxes his home-built boat … through the chaos of waves.

… A 55-year-old lawyer with a … private law practice in Anchorage, Pallister spends most of his time directing a nonprofit group called the Gulf of Alaska Keeper, or GoAK (pronounced GO-ay-kay).

… In practice, the group has, since Pallister and a few like-minded buddies founded it in 2005, done little else besides clean trash from beaches. All along Alaska’s outer coast, Chris Pallister will tell you, there are shores strewn with marine debris, as man-made flotsam and jetsam is officially known. Most of that debris is plastic, and much of it crosses the Gulf of Alaska or even the Pacific Ocean to arrive there.http://snipurl.com/2nmjt
see previous Where is… duckie invasion

Buried under thick ice and frigid water, volcanic explosions are shaking the Arctic Ocean floor at depths previously thought impossible, according to a new study.

Using robot-operated submarines, researchers have found deposits of glassy rock—evidence of eruptions—scattered over more than 5 square miles of the seabed.

Explosive volcanic eruptions were not thought to be possible at depths below the critical pressure for steam formation, or 2 miles. The deposits, however, were found at seafloor depths greater than 2.5 miles.http://snipurl.com/2qgu2

“While the United States government is immune for legal liability for the defalcations alleged herein, it is not free, nor should it be, from posterity’s judgment concerning its failure to accomplish what was its task,” the judge wrote. “This story — 50 years in the making — is heart-wrenching. Millions of dollars were squandered in building a levee system with respect to these outfall canals which was known to be inadequate by the corps’s own calculations.”

Though the ruling spotlighted many missteps by the corps over the years, it made little of other possible factors, including culpability of former local officials overseeing levees and drainage, and particularly their rejection of the corps’s original plan for floodgates on the drainage canals that so devastated the city. [emphasis added]

“I think he’s saying two main points–
1) sustainable living is living within one’s environmental means. The environment is in constant flux and the cultural response (what people do) ought also be flexible, to adapt. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Rivers delta is a living biocultural system, for example.

2) ethically and morally, wouldn’t barricading NOLA against environmental change in the delta be the same as barricading change in the YK delta? and therefore the billions of dollars required for either delta to rebuild the way it was, bad infrastructure and all, (rather than working with the change) come equally from everyone else?

Now, if the efforts were directed towards living *with* a delta system, the costs over the next 100 years would be considerably less and the resilient cultures even stronger. This isn’t “writing off” the deltas and their people; it’s preserving them.

NOLA is equally entitled to re-build bad design as YK. In fact, the Army Corps would love to fix our delta the same way they fixed yours over the decades. If we “re-build” one delta, then ethically “re-build” the other. We’ll go first.

Posted by: mpb | July 7, 2007 11:45 AM

Thanks for your response. Perhaps you should have written the article. Your points are cogent and I don’t disagree for the most part.

But the professor claims that the people of the Yukon delta aren’t playing the race card when they emphatically are (check out the NYT article linked in the post above this one). The professor is at best ill-informed on the subject. His desire to strip away race and greed and other “secondary” issues in our understanding of the broken levees is horribly misguided. We need to understand all the elements of the problem, not just global warming, because, again, the floods of NOLA could have been prevented.

Rebuilding bad design, as you say, is not a great option. But the Dutch don’t have bad design. Why do we have to?

Koyukuk has been unable to secure upgrades to its inadequate sewer system. How did a village along one of Alaska’s Interior river systems suddenly find itself keeping company, at least on paper, with a handful of sea-battered coastal communities imminently at risk of falling into the ocean? Koyukuk Mayor Jason Malemute isn’t sure. But he’s determined to get the place he’s called home nearly all his life off the list of Alaska villages that must be relocated to survive….

Like this:

[oo] For those not getting the E-mail or hearing our best radio news–[deadline]

I am inviting all Alaskans to become involved in the state budget process by participating in a web survey.

Voices Across Alaska: State Budget Priorities is an opportunity for all Alaskans to provide your opinion on how the state’s projected budget surplus should be saved and invested. Surveys will be accepted through 5 p.m. on December 3, 2007.

But a lot of people initially saw the invitation as I did– asking for input on the budget itself. There are some really good ideas from commenters at APRN.org. Governor seeks statewide feedback on how to spend new oil revenue There are so many things unfunded in rural Alaska that any “surplus” should play catch-up. [e.g., scientific support for the Unorganized Borough; comprehensive assessment of environmental change and community impacts; access to affordable health care; decent elder support such as elder-run senior centers and assisted living housing; Governor’s public involvement coordinator; etc.] APRN comments will be open for 45 days so add yours there. Maybe the Governor’s office will read those, too.

Gov. Sarah Palin is forming an administrative group to address issues in largely Native, rural parts of the state.

Many Alaska Natives say Palin has ignored them and failed to protect their ancient traditions during her tenure, even though her husband is part Alaska Native. The Republican vice presidential candidate is away on the campaign trail but made the announcement Thursday in a prerecorded speech played before thousands of people attending a yearly convention of Alaska Natives in Anchorage. Palin says the new rural subcabinet group will work with representatives of rural communities to tackle issues like public safety, education and health care. The group will include existing Cabinet members and two Alaska Native commissioners.

“As I envision it, the subcabinet will work closely with representatives of rural communities, tribes, corporations, nonprofits and other entities to discuss issues of concern and to design acceptable solutions,” said Palin, … “I know that to the current energy situation, some folks feel forced to leave their homes and their heritage and are making the move to more urban centers where the cost of living is less expensive and the odds of finding a decent job is better,” Palin said.

[revised 2008-10-14 T22:15:27] The news tonight (CBS KTVA) announced Rhonda McBride’s resignation as rural advisor, effective the end of the month. In her statement to Alaska Native groups, McBride said she resigned to allow more Alaska Natives in the Governor’s cabinet. I will try to find the actual statement. Sounds a bit odd to me. Rhonda was certainly qualified to speak about rural Alaska issues, but one person does not a cabinet position make.

…”In all honesty, I have never felt authentic in my role,” McBride wrote in her e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.

McBride, who covered rural issues as a reporter before becoming rural adviser last year, said she would return to journalism to help bring attention to Native issues.

She said her last day would be Oct. 23.

revised2008-10-15 Writing Raven — Another Palin personnel problem– has the full text of Rhonda’s message, which is far more important than what the news stories have highlighted. The reference to DCRA is key, I feel. [What is the import of rural Alaska to the people of Alaska as executed by elected officials (the “chief executive officer” is the Governor)? As indicated by the “rural advisor” substitute for a sub-cabinet (or cabinet position) and now resignation and the other cabinet shuffles that Writing Raven notes, we still aren’t at the table with the grown-ups. mpb]

Rhonda McBride will be able to do far more for rural Alaska by her return to journalism than by staying in the Palin administration, which is a discouraging thing to say.

—————————————
Gov. Sarah Palin during her state of the state address last January 2007 suggested she would establish a sub-cabinet on rural issues. Today she announced at her address to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention that Rhonda McBride is to be her new rural advisor.

McBride is a KTUU-TV journalist and former news director at KYUK-TV in Bethel. She had a regional noon newscast that was very welcome (until the state decided not to fund rural news). A biography is here, http://tinyurl.com/ypvmfb although it has some typos (“Prior to moving to Alaska in 1998 [sic]“)

I hope the Governor doesn’t change the name of the advisor, as she indicated today. “Advisor” at least implies that views and information from rural Alaska will get to the Governor’s ear. In many other institutions, a “rural public relations officer” would only get the Governor’s chosen word to rural us’ns. I also hope “rural” will include the Unorganized Borough tundra roots science and community-based research department.

Please note that Rhonda McBride is Governor Palin’s advisor. She is NOT the Republican nominee contact person. All that information is now handled by someone at the McCain-Palin campaign.

Also note that the Governor’s rural advisor, like so many other state offices, does NOT have a toll-free number to call. It costs 5 (five) times more to call Anchorage or Juneau than it does to call Washington, DC.

Rural_Determination_summary_KARAC_meetingbook-FINAL-www.doi.gov (pdf file) The material below is taken from the regional advisory council packets. Sections related to rural determination have …Continue reading →

This is annual “contest”, but the fascinating part are the stories about these famous or well loved trees. Major Oak aims for top tree title http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-30344911View On WordPress

My Skills identified by Alaska’s Job CenterThe State of Alaska has a new system that identifies skills. Mine include the following. But really, anyone who has been a graduate teaching assistant has had to gain a lot of these skills; anyone who has had to write papers has had to learn typing; anyone who has had to work their way through college has had to lea […]

Twenty-Year Summary of Surveillance for Human Hantavirus, USAHard to believe it has been that long ago [see also camai-start-here] when a new killer emerged among NM and the Pueblos. No one knew at first what it was and how to avoid the mystery illness which seemed to target young Native people. We couldn’t wait for the “outside experts” but needed to rely o […]

Time to watch squirrel s: "The convenience and speed of new communications has, in my case at least, served the principal purpose of creating considerably more time for staring out of the window and watching squirrels run along the fence. I am sure the great man would have approved."